PENTICTON - CentreBC served its first candidate on Sunday, dropping Lakhwinder Jhaj into the Abbotsford-Mission by-election that Conservative Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay arranged for herself.The party posted the name just after noon. Leader Mike Bernier quote-posted the graphic and said CentreBC was “here to put an end to the chaos in BC Politics.” He called Jhaj a future MLA for the riding. The party offered no further biography..BC politics veteran Paul Ratchford filled in the résumé CentreBC left off the graphic. He called Jhaj a “party-hopper and serial candidate” who “lost twice as an NDP candidate, lost once as a federal Liberal, and previously failed to win a BC Liberal nomination.”.Jhaj won the NDP nomination in Boundary-Similkameen in 2009 after a failed 2005 bid in Penticton-Okanagan Valley, then ran for the NDP again in Abbotsford South in 2013. She was the Liberal candidate federally in Skeena–Bulkley Valley. In 2020 she sought a BC Liberal nomination and did not appear on the general-election ballot.CKNW host Jas Johal, meanwhile, spelled the party “CenterBC,” then used the rest of the sentence to stick a proverbial fork in the Official Opposition.“Have just learned CenterBC will be announcing their candidate for the Abbotsford-Mission by-election at noon today,” he wrote. “Announcement will not be cancelled like a random Monday caucus meeting. Stay tuned….”.That Monday meeting is the one Global’s Ben O’Hara-Byrne reported late Saturday as called off. Johal repeated the cancellation Sunday morning and noted it was three months to the day since Findlay won the leadership. .Six MLAs have left her caucus since August 14.Findlay was acclaimed as the Conservative candidate on August 25 after Reann Gasper resigned the seat on August 22 so the leader could run.The NDP answered Saturday with Pam Alexis, the former Mission mayor and former agriculture minister Gasper beat 13,523 to 10,894 in October 2024 — 55.38% to 44.62%. Voting day is Saturday, September 26. Elections BC closes nominations at 1 p.m. on September 5.CentreBC was already the existing alternative on offer for right-of-centre or firmly centrist voters. Karin Kirkpatrick founded the party in March 2025 after BC United collapsed. Bernier, the former Peace River South MLA and Clark-era education minister, took the leadership on July 18. He has spent August on a province-wide “Pick-Up Tour.” A Research Co. poll that month put the party at 5%. Peter Milobar, who left Findlay’s caucus on August 14 and has talked about registering a different vehicle with Ian Paton, told The Canadian Press last week it was “highly unlikely” that project would field anyone in this writ. CentreBC just did..Johal had floated Bernier himself as a possible Abbotsford-Mission name on Saturday, alongside Mike de Jong and Randy Hawes. None of those three has filed. Bernier lives in Dawson Creek. Findlay lives in South Surrey. Jhaj, at least on the announcement graphic, is the local name the party put between them.The Conservative file in the Fraser Valley is already broken. Bruce Banman walked out of neighbouring Abbotsford South on August 27 and called Findlay “unelectable.” Hawes, the former Mission mayor who had come back as president of Gasper’s riding association, quit the party on August 24 after the seat-ask and said he would work to keep Findlay from becoming his MLA. Gasper is now Findlay’s deputy chief of staff. The sitting Conservative caucus that won 44 seats in October 2024 is in at 31.Bernier’s Sunday line did not mention Findlay by name. He didn't have to. A three-way ballot in a riding the Conservatives held by 10.8 points twenty-two months ago speaks for itself..Alexis will run on health care, housing and the claim that Conservatives are “focusing on culture wars.” Findlay will run as the leader who still does not have a seat. Jhaj will run as the first name a year-old centrist party has ever put in front of voters.Voting day is September 26.
